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Some great specials at Kiriko (Sawtelle)

I have posted about Kiriko (on Sawtelle, in the Olympic Collection) several times before and dont mean to belabor the point, but we had some spectacular dishes on Saturday night, and in light of Willi Rosslis request today for a best of Sawtelle summary, maybe its appropriate to mention these highlights:

--Creamy, thick, pungent, ripe-cheese-textured homemade style tofu from Japan. This was the tofu equivalent of the fabulous Greek yogurt weve all been raving about lately.

--Terrific sunomono with eel, the different crunches of eel and cucumber playing subtly off one another.

--Smoked salmon wrapped around fresh mango.

--Thick scallops, butterflied, grilled, and served over sushi ricemeaty and flavorful, just an outstanding dish.

I continue to think this is the best sushi bar on Sawtelle Blvd. Its much more expensive than Hide (on Saturday we spent an even $100, including tip, no drinks, for plenty of food for 2 adults and the voracious Baby Play), although lunch is sort of a bargain ($26 for 10 great pieces of sushi plus soup and ice cream, $10 for more humble selections). The service is friendly but can get slow when theres a crowd.

As compared to West LA current fave Echigo: Echigo wins on quality-to-price ratio, and for traditional sushi Echigo is at least as good; but Kiriko is (as far as I can tell) more creative and accommodating. It's nice to have both so close by.